Shimmering
by Lily Vipers
Summary: The crew were spending their downtime with their loved ones and Nyota decided to use the opportunity to have Spock ask James a question regarding one Carol Marcus. "Each of us is born with a box of matches inside us but we can't strike them all by ourselves." ― Laura Esquivel, Like Water for Chocolate (Part 2 of Ember series)


_**Title:**_ _Shimmering_

 _ **Category:**_ _Star Trek, 2009_

 _ **Summary :**_ _The crew were spending their downtime with their loved ones and Nyota decided to use the opportunity to have Spock ask James a question regarding one Carol Marcus. "Each of us is born with a box of matches inside us but we can't strike them all by ourselves."_ _― Laura Esquivel, Like Water for Chocolate_

 _ **Pairings:**_ _Carol Marcus/James Kirk, Nyota Uhura/Spock_

 _ **Disclaimer:**_ _I own nothing._

 _ **Notes:**_ _This has been sitting on my computer for the past couple of months and went through a couple of revisions. I don't exactly like the end product due to the fact that I don't think some of the elements would had worked together. (Or maybe I'm overthinking it?) In the end, I decided 'what the hell.' It's a fanfic and this was written for my own entertainment and hopefully you would enjoy it too._

xXxXx

Nyota glanced around the room, noting how the Captain, Spock and Hikaru were still in the holding area. The _USS Enterprise_ was making a predetermined stop on one of the lesser known Starbase, a respite in their five years mission. This gave the crew time to be with their family and loved ones after being away for so long in space.

However, not everyone was using the opportunity to enjoy the limited time they had for themselves. Hikaru's husband sent word that he was going to be late, something about a mishap with their daughter's pet. Jim, being the stubborn man he was, refused to leave the holding area after they disembarked the ship. Instead, the Captain was entertaining himself with bugging Hikaru into telling him stories about how the helmsman met Ben.

This was not going to plan. At all. Nyota had a _plan_. A pretty good and flawless one. The plan did not involve the helmsman. (Though, given that it involved Spock, it might not be entirely flawless.)

Well, this was what they were dealt with. The helmsman was now part of the deal and she needed to know. _Now._

Nyota caught Spock's attention, before faking a cough and nodded her head toward Jim. Spock stared at her, lips in a tight line, before clasping his hands behind him, finally resigning to the ploy Nyota forced him into.

(Don't tell him this, but Nyota _loved_ pushing Spock out of his comfort zone. It was exhilarating to watch. She blamed the Captain for this.)

Spock reluctantly cleared his throat.

"Wait," said Jim, laughing, seemingly unaware that his second command was trying to get his attention. "You mean to tell me that the first time you met Ben, you literally crashed into him because your sister was chasing you down the street with your _sword?_ "

"She's a better swordsman than I am, Captain," replied Hikaru, his tone stern. However, his eyes were showing amusement.

"I'm not even sure how you strike up a conversation after you knock someone to the ground," said Jim. "And I do not want to know what you did to get your sister so mad at you or how she even got your sword."

Spock cleared his throat again.

Hikaru nodded his head toward the Vulcan, finally giving Spock acknowledgement he reluctantly wanted. Jim turned his head to the side, and without looking at Spock, said, "Mr. Spock, you got to hear this story. I can't believe that Mr. Sulu and I had known each other for so long that I didn't think to ask him how he met his husband."

"Captain," began Spock. His lips still in a tight line and his hands still behind his back.

Jim gave Nyota a glance, seemingly sensing that she had something to do with this, before returning his attention to his second in command. This time he made eye to eye contact. Nyota sometimes forgot how the Captain had a sixth sense about this kind of things. Oh well. It was not like she was hiding this from Jim.

"Mr. Spock," said the Captain. There was a hint of delight in his tone. Nyota could relate. It was always fun watching Spock squirm.

"Captain, pardon me if you find this line of questioning intrusive, but if I may, what are your intentions with Dr. Marcus?" asked Spock, bluntly. Eyes dead set on the Captain.

"Spock!" whispered Nyota, harshly. "You were suppose to ease your way in." This was not how the plan was suppose to play out.

"My intentions?" asked Jim. The smile he had earlier lessen a bit. Hikaru gave a nervous chuckle before slightly stepping away from the three and sat down in one of the chairs, resigning to the fact that he was not part of this conversation anymore, but he might as well watch this farce unfold.

"Yes, your intentions," repeated Spock. Nyota could see that Spock saw nothing wrong with his choice of words. "The crew noticed that recently you and Dr. Marcus were spending quite a bit of time alone together. Nyota wanted to know about your intentions with Dr. Marcus." His expression never changed from the monotone voice of his. Only Nyota noticed the slight inflection on the phrase _you and Dr. Marcus._

So he was curious, after all.

"He wasn't suppose to ask you like this," uttered Nyota. She almost rolled her eyes with the direction the conversation was heading but held restraint.

"How am I supposed to ask the Captain then?" asked Spock as he gave a quick glance to his partner.

"You were suppose to ask him as a concerned _friend_ who only wants the best for him and for Carol because you care about the _both_ of them," replied Nyota, slowly. It was a rehashed of the argument they had last night. Spock didn't see how inquiring about Jim and Carol's relationship was any of their business. Nyota had to bring up the argument about how the _supposed_ relationship might affect the crew, if it end up as a bad or a good thing. Did he really want something this trivial bring chaos to their mission?

Nyota knew how to work their arguments so she had the upper hand.

"I did asked the Captain about Dr. Marcus, did I not?" asked Spock, still not seeing what he did wrong, nor worrying about airing out their scheme to the Captain. "No need to talk circles around the subject."

Nyota crossed her arms. "Yes, but…," she began.

"Hold on," interjected Jim. He turned his attention to Spock before looking at Nyota. "May I ask what's the purpose of this conversation?"

 _He always goes straight to the point, doesn't he?_ Nyota thought. She could see why Spock thought highly of the Captain and why they were close. Down to their core, they were one and the same. (Just don't tell Jim this. He would _not_ take this as a compliment.)

"I want Spock to talk with you more on things that were not related to the _Enterprise_ , the Federation, or the mission," replied Nyota. She sighed and shook her head, as if she was a mother scolding at her child. "I wanted him to treat you more as a close friend than someone who you happened to work with." Though she never doubted their friendship. They just needed a little small push to explore different areas of their relationship.

"And asking me about Dr. Marcus is the way to go," asked Jim, slowly. He was still trying to processed what he was being asked.

But Nyota knew him better than this. He was never this slow in reading between the lines of a conversation. She shrugged and replied,"I was also curious in what's going on between the two of you."

 _Wait._

 _He is stalling._

"And the truth comes out," said Jim. His grin was back in place, though not as confident as before. His charm never worked on Nyota and she knew it didn't worked on Carol.

Or did it?

She saw how they acted around each other, skirting around their feelings, the smiles that never seemed to end when the other was in the room. She never saw Jim acted this way before, a boy with a playground crush. This was why she got to know where things stood between them.

"It hasn't gone unnoticed the amount of time you two are spending together, while on duty and off duty, for any number of reasons," said Spock. He hadn't moved from his spot, neither closer to the Captain, nor to Nyota. "I may had also find this _particular_ circumstance intriguing."

"Intriguing?" asked Hikaru, his eyebrows raised. Even Nyota was surprised in Spock's admission.

"Yes," admitted Spock. He glanced at the helmsman before continuing, "Because as we speak, Dr. Marcus and Dr. McCoy are currently off ship together and had been together since Dr. McCoy inquired Dr. Marcus to join him today to run an errand."

Hikaru nodded his head, finally seeing where this conversation was going and why it was started in the first place.

Suddenly blue eyes met Nyota's. "So this is when you send your boyfriend in to find out how I feel about this?" asked Jim. His arms was at his side, but Nyota could see that he was itching to cross them, his fingers were twitching ever so slightly.

"In general terms, yes," said Nyota, immediately and firmly. She was not ashamed.

"You send the Vulcan in on the matters of human emotions," said Jim, slowly and stressing on the world _Vulcan_.

"Yes," replied Nyota. She nodded her head once as she answered.

"Mr. Spock," said Jim, as he turned his attention back to the Vulcan. "Why are you so concern with how I feel about Dr. Marcus being off ship with Dr. McCoy?"

"I am not concerned, Captain," replied Spock.

"Is that so," said Jim, giving Spock a questioning look. "Then why inquire how I feel about the situation?"

"I thought, given your obvious affections for Dr. Marcus, that you find the whole situation off-putting."

Hikaru suddenly bursted out laughing at Spock's response, his voice filling up the whole room, but quiet down once Jim gave him a look. A chuckle still escaped here and there.

"Off-putting?" asked Jim, not believing, either in Spock's choice of words or his _supposed_ observations.

"Nyota's words."

"And what do you mean by obvious affections for Dr. Marcus?" asked Jim.

"You can't be serious," whispered Nyota under her breath.

"Whenever Dr. Marcus talks on the bridge, you never take your eyes off of her, you make sure that she always have a spot to sit at during meals, especially if the spot is next to you, and you hadn't try to _make a move_ on anyone else since she got on the ship," said Spock, listing off his observations to support his statement.

"You know, I was going to refute your claims, but I think I can of like this, especially since you used the phrase ' _make a move'_ and _'off-putting'_.Where's a camera when you need one?" said Jim, trying to inject humor into the conversation.

So, he really did not want to answer the question. Nyota almost smiled. She was going to have so much fun with this new set of information.

"Are you concerned with Dr. Marcus and Dr. McCoy spending their entire day together?" asked Spock and ignoring what the Captain had said.

"I do not care who Dr. Marcus is spending her day with," said Jim, his tone a little bit too harsh. Maybe ambushing the Captain about his feelings for Carol was not the right way to go. "I am not her keeper."

"Spock," interjected Nyota, "he's not going to be blunt and say yes."

"But I thought you wanted me to get the Captain to talk about Dr. Marcus," replied Spock.

Nyota shook her head. She finally walked up and stood face to face with Jim. "I like Carol. She's a good friend. I tolerate you, but you are also a good friend of mine. I do not want to see you get hurt and I do not want to see her get hurt. So, are you guys a couple?"

"How is that any better than how I approach the conversation?" asked Spock.

Jim turned his head to Hikaru. "Do you ever notice how Dr. Marcus never refers to us by our first name?"

"What do you mean?" asked Hikaru, finally feeling included in the conversation.

"She's always formal with us. Mr. Spock or Mr. Sulu or Lieutenant," answered Jim. "Always the Captain with me. Off ship, on ship. Day, night. She never change on how she addresses us."

"Is that significant?" asked Spock.

"Are you avoiding my question?" asked Nyota.

Jim shook his head. "No, I just answered your question."

"She never called you Jim?" asked Nyota.

"Yes."

"And you want that to change?" asked Nyota, slowly.

"Yes."

Spock slowly nodded his head, finally getting what was being said. "Then why are you here in the holding area when you can spend the day with Dr. Marcus?"

"Bones got to her first." Jim shrugged his shoulders. "And I really wanted to know how Mr. Sulu met his husband."

"Then why…" began Spock.

All of the sudden, there was a loud laughter, echoing off the walls. The doors slid opened to reveal Carol, Bones and an older blonde woman.

"Mother," said Jim in surprise.

"Why didn't you tell me that the _Enterprise_ was making a scheduled stop?" asked Winona Kirk, her sharp blue eyes were on her only son. "You know I would make the effort in seeing you, no matter where in the universe you may be in."

Hikaru laughed, his teeth showing and delight shining in his eyes. "This _cannot_ get any better."

Jim ignored his helmsman and directed his attention to his _supposed_ friend. "Bones, what is this?" he asked, his voice slightly smaller than it was before. Nyota walked over to Spock and gave him a questioning look. Spock slightly shrugged his shoulders.

"Look who we bumped into in town, Jim," said Bones, ignoring the Captain question.

"Oh, hush now," said Winona. "You're the one who called me over four months ago. And you, it been over a year and you didn't think about giving your poor old mother a visit?"

"You're not old, mother," said Jim, his voice almost whining. Thinking that was not how he wanted to end his portion of the conversation, he added, "And I have a mission to run."

"Compared to everyone in this room, I am old," replied Winona. "Now, come. Give me a hug. And grab the bags from the poor girl here." Her arms were wide opened and she didn't wait for her son to walk over to give her a hug.

"Your mother took me shopping after I informed her about the incident I had in my room," said Carol, embarrassed about her chosen activity outside of the _Enterprise_.

"Well, I did warn you that keeping a dangerous unknown weapon in your room was not a smart idea," said Kirk. His mother had finally freed him from the necessary hug and Jim quickly stepped away from her and closer to Carol, almost as if he was planning on using her to hide him from the parental unit.

"It was not dangerous," said Carol, sighing. It was always the same argument. Nyota thought it was cute. They were already acting like an old married couple. "It was inactive when we picked it up."

"And somehow turned itself back on?" asked Jim.

Winona's smile seemingly reached her eyes as she watched the exchanged unfolded in front of her. "Now, Jimmy, this is not the time to have a lover spat in front of your mother."

Carol blushed pink and James dropped the bags he was carrying with a loud _thud_. Nyota had to send Hikaru a death glare to keep him from laughing at the scene in front of them.

"Mother," said Jim, his tone tiring. "We are _not_ together."

"Wait, you two are not a couple?" Winona turned to Bones, in which he shrugged in return to her unasked question. "Then why did you bring her along to pick me up?"

"Now that is how you get an answer out of him, Spock," said Nyota under her breath. However, she said it loud enough for everyone in the room to hear.

"I don't think this is the time, Nyota," said Spock, but Nyota could tell he was enjoying what was occurring in the room.

"Carol here is a _friend_ ," said Kirk, stressing on the word friend.

"You mean Dr. Marcus," interjected Hikaru. Nyota could see that Jim wanted to knock the smile off of the helmsman face.

"Not helping, Mr. Sulu," said Jim, tensely.

"Why don't we change that right now?" asked Winona. She linked her arms around Carol. Nyota could see the debate behind Carol's eyes on how to proceed. Would it be rude to step away from the Captain's mother? Or will letting Winona hold her arms led to more unwelcomed questions?

"You practically lit up the room when she walked in! I saw that smile on your face. You can never hide from your mother. Not even when you were a fifteen and kept stealing your dad's bike."

"Mrs. Kirk, really, we're just friends," said Carol, her face, neck, and ears were so pink that the whites in her eyes were the only thing not in color. "And I have a boyfriend who works at the Federation," she continued almost as an afterthought and not to dispel the "misconception."

"Then why don't you dump him and start dating my boy? It's a win-win situation! You're the only girl I gotten along with that Jimmy here had an interest for." said Winona as she smoothed out Carol's hair and straighten out the collar of her blouse.

"Mother!"

Winona gave her son a look. "Why? It's the truth!"

"It was nice meeting you, Mrs. Kirk. But I have to go," said Carol as she unlinked her arms from Winona and took a step toward the door. "I was only suppose to buy some new clothes before I went to meet some friends I hadn't seen in awhile."

"It's a pleasure meeting you. We do need to do this again. Soon," said Winona, not admitting to defeat.

Jim picked up the bags that was still littering the floor. "Mother, I'm going to help Dr. Marcus drop the bags off and I'll come back and the two of us (and I mean the two of us, Bones, which does not include you), will have dinner. How does that sound?"

Winona fanned herself and placed a hand over her chest. "Be still my heart. Of course, that sounds wonderful."

Carol refused to look at Jim as they walked out of the room together, arms nearly touching from hold close they were together.

Bones leaned over to Mrs. Kirk. "Don't worry. I'm working on getting the two of them together." And gave her almost a sinister looking smile.

"Good," replied Winona. She nodded her head. "My boy deserve some happiness in his life."

"It's a free membership if you want to join the club, Mrs. Kirk," said Bones. Nyota could already see the the plans and ploys forming in his mind. She was sure that he was going to go overboard with this idea of his and worried briefly if she should stop him.

"Oh, this sounds like this could be fun," said Winona.

Yes, it could be. Maybe letting Dr. McCoy play with the Captain's heart might be fun. She would totally want in on the action.

"There was a reason why I asked Carol to join me today. She didn't know we were going to pick you up," replied Bones.

"Count us in," said Spock suddenly.

Nyota turned and looked at him with surprise.

"You said that I needed to invest more in my friends' lives," said Spock, answering her unspoken question.

"Yes, but I didn't think you would be willing to conspire with Dr. McCoy," said Nyota. He didn't even want to participate in giving Jim a surprise birthday party, saying it was wrong to withhold information from their captain.

"This would require you to get your hands dirty, Spock," said Bones, his eyebrows raised and his lips in a smile. "Breaking up a couple to get another couple together."

"I think this would be a _fun_ challenge to work out, don't you agreed Nyota," replied Spock.

Hikaru stood up. "I should be going. Ben should be here soon."

"Sweetie, don't you want to join the fun?" asked Winona.

"I'm sure you guys got it," said Hikaru. He turned around and made his way over to the door. He raised his hand absentmindedly as a parting wave and said, "Besides, there's no boyfriend at the Federation."


End file.
